In the days that followed, the Cuckoos seemed to have completely lost any desire to press the attack. Even their catapults were left idle, no longer hurling stones at the Carian fortifications.
They stayed holed up in their main camp, coldly watching as Carian soldiers busied themselves repairing the defenses, forced to look on as the city walls grew thicker and sturdier by the day.
On the surface, it was as though an eerie, unspoken understanding had formed between the two sides.
The Cuckoos' camp lay in deathly stillness, like stagnant water, yet inside Caria, things were far from calm.
The proposal to seize Testu's Island was ultimately approved and adopted by the Lunar Princess.
What surprised many was that Nolan was not only entrusted with the role of overall commander, but was also given full authority over the Albinauric Forces, the elite unit that had previously been under Loretta's command.
To be honest, for Nolan, commanding several hundred people for the first time was deeply unsettling.
Fortunately, he was not alone. With capable aides supporting him, and after a period of adjustment, he gradually grew into his new role.
Time passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, half a month was gone.
On this day, Nolan finally decided to formally carry out the order issued by Her Highness the Princess.
South of a small town called Annecy, several small boats were gliding silently toward the shore.
"Latenna, are you sure the Cuckoos will come to this town today?"
Nolan braced himself against the side of the boat, rowing in rhythm with the woman beside him as he spoke.
What was striking was the sight in the middle of the small boat: a massive white wolf lay sprawled there.
Its body was enormous. Even though the boat was meant to hold five or six people, it felt cramped with the wolf aboard.
The woman beside him, delicate in appearance and strikingly beautiful, was his adjutant and an outstanding mounted archer.
Like other Albinaurics, she had been crippled in both legs, and the imposing white wolf was her mount.
Hearing his question, Latenna nodded repeatedly and lowered her voice.
"Yes. About half an hour ago, they set out from the main camp. Their direction was Annecy."
"I heard that because the Cuckoos have been avoiding battle, the Academy cut their military funding. They've been making a huge fuss about it."
Nolan shook his head with open disdain, thoroughly unimpressed by the Cuckoos' behavior.
What could they really do? They wouldn't dare attack the Magic Academy, so their only option was to raid villages and towns.
If he thought about it that way, the world might not be worse off without people like them.
"There are a lot of them. Are you really going to put yourself in danger?"
His adjutant looked at him anxiously, her concern written plainly across her face.
"Losing would be putting my life on the line. Winning is simply sound strategy."
Nolan glanced up at the dim, overcast sky, then slowly rose to his feet and looked ahead.
The lakeside town was not small by any measure, yet what lay before them was utter devastation.
As far as the eye could see, only a handful of ramshackle houses remained, barely standing and on the verge of collapse.
Corpses lay scattered along the wide road, men and women, old and young alike.
Their deaths were horrific. Some had been pierced clean through the chest by sharp longswords, blood soaking into the ground beneath them.
Others had been skewered on spears and hoisted into the air, their bodies swaying gently in the breeze.
Cries of anguish mixed with savage laughter, spilling from the buildings along the road and echoing across the town.
Calling it a living hell would not be an exaggeration, yet this place should never have become like this.
At times, what is more terrifying than cold steel and merciless weapons are the ones who wield them, beasts stripped of all humanity.
In an open space beside a dilapidated shack stood several grim gallows, each bearing a corpse long since dead.
The bodies swayed slowly in the wind, creaking as if telling the world of the pain and torment they had endured in life.
At that very moment, a tall knight with a brutal build and a face crisscrossed by vicious scars sat inside a wooden hut, cursing nonstop.
"Those bastards at Urth really went too far! They didn't even leave me a single bowl of soup. All that's left is this useless trash!"
Seething with rage, he kicked away the heap of junk piled in front of him. Beneath it were only a few threadbare garments and some wild vegetables already rotting and reeking. There was not even the slightest trace of metal to be found.
The place looked as if it had been picked clean by starving wild dogs, stripped bare in a way that left nothing but despair.
He had simply arrived too late.
Hearing the knight's tirade, the soldiers around him all lowered their heads, not daring to make a sound.
"Sir, we've searched the nearby villages over and over," one of them said carefully. "The other squads looted this area long ago."
"Forget gold or jewels. It's hard enough to find even a single grain of rice or a leaf of vegetables."
"If you ask me, maybe we should stop here and try our luck somewhere else?"
One squad leader finally gathered his courage and spoke up to the commander seated on his tall warhorse.
The commander's eyes flew wide as he glared at him, roaring in fury.
"You useless idiot! If we don't gather enough provisions, are my men supposed to fight on empty stomachs?"
"Keep searching. And if you still find nothing, then grab all these villagers and turn them into military rations!"
Such a cold-blooded order made even the usually vicious squad leader shudder. It was hard to accept.
But when he met the commander's crazed, bloodthirsty gaze, every word of protest stuck in his throat. In the end, he could only bow his head in silence.
"You bunch of worthless trash. Every mission turns into a mess. When we get back to camp, I'll definitely be the one getting chewed out again."
The more the commander thought about it, the angrier he became. He snapped his whip, the lash cracking down on a man kneeling nearby and begging for mercy.
The man let out a scream and collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain. The commander showed not the slightest hint of compassion. Instead, a twisted look of pleasure crept across his face.
Just then, a shout suddenly rang out from the distance.
"Sir! Sir! Come quickly! We found something good!"
A group of soldiers came running toward them in excitement, several small figures slung over their shoulders.